Paul’s lost letters
We’ll never know what he wrote to the churches at Jerusalem or Caesarea Maritima.
Bifolio from Paul’s letter to the Romans, the end of Paul’s letter to the Philippians, and the beginning of Paul’s letter to the Colossians. (University of Michigan / Chester Beatty Library / Creative Commons)
Have you ever read St. Paul’s powerful letters to the church at Jerusalem? How about to the Damascenes? To the people of Caesarea Maritima?
Obviously, you have not. But the fact that we do not possess such things demands some explanation. It tells us a great deal about how our scriptures reached the shape they did—and about what Paul regarded as his central message.
Paul traveled widely in the Eastern Mediterranean world, roughly between the mid-’30s and early ’60s. He visited many cities and communities and assuredly wrote letters to many of them. Yet we have his correspondence with only a select few. Why?
